Button Dropdown?

[(PeteCresswell)]

Same screen shot as my prior post under "Visually Setting Off An
Area Of A Form": http://tinyurl.com/33dqmo

In the upper right of the form, there are a lot of buttons.

Too many buttons for the client's comfort.

They want 5 of the buttons to go away, yet be available if
somebody clicks a "More Options" button.

i.e. The Buy, Clone, Mature, Un-Mature, and Delete buttons need
tb invisible in normal use, yet accessible when the user clicks
"More Options".

First thing that comes to my mind is a floater containing said
buttons.

Click "More Options" and the floater appears over the security
screen.

Then we make the existing _Click() events of the buttons we moved
into Public subs within the security screen's module and have the
floater buttons' _Click() events call
forms!frmSecurity.WhateverClick.

Anybody got something more elegant?

 

[deko]

Same screen shot as my prior post under "Visually Setting Off An
Area Of A Form": http://tinyurl.com/33dqmo

In the upper right of the form, there are a lot of buttons.

Too many buttons for the client's comfort.

They want 5 of the buttons to go away, yet be available if
somebody clicks a "More Options" button.

i.e. The Buy, Clone, Mature, Un-Mature, and Delete buttons need
tb invisible in normal use, yet accessible when the user clicks
"More Options".

First thing that comes to my mind is a floater containing said
buttons.

Click "More Options" and the floater appears over the security
screen.

Then we make the existing _Click() events of the buttons we moved
into Public subs within the security screen's module and have the
floater buttons' _Click() events call
forms!frmSecurity.WhateverClick.

Anybody got something more elegant?

That form looks awfully crowded...

What I've done in a similar real estate problem was to use a subform for the
area in question (with a discernable border or clickable area/icon) and use
the subform's double click event to launch a modal popup that's essentially
a larger view of the original area plus the additional features. The popup
itself has an empty subform, so I just assign the first subform's
sourceobject to the popup's subform and put all the additional feature stuff
on the parent.

To improve form load times, the blank subform trick can be helpful (as you
probably know). I use this often with a tabbed interface. The main form
opens to a default tab and that's the only "production" sourceobject that
loads. Each of the other tabs get a "production" sourceobject assigned only
when selected (with the tab_change event). This "just in time" data loading
makes a big difference when the subforms have datasheets that load a lot of
data. On the close event of the main form I set all the subform
sourceobjects (on the different tabs) back to the blank dummy form.

regards,

deko

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per deko:

That form looks awfully crowded...

It doesn't just *look* crowded, it *is* crowded.... -)

Seems tb the eternal tradeoff with, at least, bond traders: they
want as much info in as little space as possible - yet they need
tb able to read it quickly and easily without having to drill
down.

I guess I'll go with the floater for the buttons.

 

[deko]

Per deko:

It doesn't just *look* crowded, it *is* crowded.... -)

Seems tb the eternal tradeoff with, at least, bond traders: they
want as much info in as little space as possible - yet they need
tb able to read it quickly and easily without having to drill
down.

I guess I'll go with the floater for the buttons.

I have to ask... what's a floater?

 

[John]

One thing you can do is to get rid of the :'s behind the field names. That
makes your form *look* less stressy.
John

 

[deko]

Per deko:

It doesn't just *look* crowded, it *is* crowded.... -)

Seems tb the eternal tradeoff with, at least, bond traders: they
want as much info in as little space as possible - yet they need
tb able to read it quickly and easily without having to drill
down.

I guess I'll go with the floater for the buttons.

If it's only the buttons, why not just make them small images with a click
event? I do this all the time. Find (or make) some icons that fit the
function and put a description in ControlTip Text. Or you could use a
Shortcut Menu Bar that has the events in a right-click context menu.
whatever a floater is, it sounds terrible...

 

[Rick Brandt]

Same screen shot as my prior post under "Visually Setting Off An
Area Of A Form": http://tinyurl.com/33dqmo

In the upper right of the form, there are a lot of buttons.

Too many buttons for the client's comfort.

They want 5 of the buttons to go away, yet be available if
somebody clicks a "More Options" button.

i.e. The Buy, Clone, Mature, Un-Mature, and Delete buttons need
tb invisible in normal use, yet accessible when the user clicks
"More Options".

First thing that comes to my mind is a floater containing said
buttons.

Click "More Options" and the floater appears over the security
screen.

Then we make the existing _Click() events of the buttons we moved
into Public subs within the security screen's module and have the
floater buttons' _Click() events call
forms!frmSecurity.WhateverClick.

Anybody got something more elegant?

Just have a button or label that when you click on it displays a shortcut menu
and put the action items on the shortcut menu.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per deko:

I have to ask... what's a floater?

Form.PopUp=True
Form.Modal=False

The form appears to float on top of whatever forms are already
open - never being obscured by same.

e.g. "Other Options" on the mid right of
http://tinyurl.com/2quggy

(click the little "All Sizes" icon to see a bigger pic)

 

[Larry Linson]

Pete, could they do with six normally-invisible buttons? Then enlarge the
remaining buttons and add a "More..." button. Use code to shrink the
normally-visible buttons to the size you show, make visible the
normally-invisible ones, and change the "More..." button to "Fewer..."?

I didn't see the original, but couldn't you "set off and group" the two
areas by choosing a common BackColor for those controls, or using a couple
of rectangles behind them with a common back color -- not a picture
background? At one time I used some standard background images in example
DBs that I posted on the Net; they seemed rather large for the function
included; but I changed the background image to a BackColor, and they were
much smaller and more convenient for users.

Larry Linson
Microsoft Office Access MVP

 

[Tom Ventouris]

You could use a Combo Box. Put your choices in the Value List and code to
trigger the event in the After Update of the Combo Box.

Use Select Case to trigger the events based on the value selected in the
combo box.

This gives the effect of a Drop Down Menu. No clutter with all choices
available with only click to expand the Combo Box.

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Tom Ventouris:

You could use a Combo Box. Put your choices in the Value List and code to
trigger the event in the After Update of the Combo Box.

Use Select Case to trigger the events based on the value selected in the
combo box.

This gives the effect of a Drop Down Menu. No clutter with all choices
available with only click to expand the Combo Box.

Bingo!

To me, at least, that's the clear winner.

I already implemented the floater... but as soon as things get a
little less pressing, I think I'll go back and change over to a
ComboBox.

 

[Rick Brandt]

Per Tom Ventouris:

Bingo!

To me, at least, that's the clear winner.

I already implemented the floater... but as soon as things get a
little less pressing, I think I'll go back and change over to a
ComboBox.

The ComboBox will work but looks "hackish" to me. That is why I would use a
shortcut menu. Then you are using an object for its intended purpose rather
than something else.

 

[Dirk Goldgar]

The ComboBox will work but looks "hackish" to me. That is why I would use
a shortcut menu. Then you are using an object for its intended purpose
rather than something else.

Or put a "More Buttons" subform on the form, positioned under the "More..."
button. Leave it invisible until someone clicks the "More..." button, and
hide it again -- *if* it's visible -- in the MouseMove event of the form's
Detail section and any other surrounding controls that aren't on the
subform.

 

[eliecer maceo]

Or put a "More Buttons" subform on the form, positioned under the
"More..." button. Leave it invisible until someone clicks the "More..."
button, and hide it again -- *if* it's visible -- in the MouseMove event
of the form's Detail section and any other surrounding controls that
aren't on the subform.

--
Dirk Goldgar, MS Access MVP
www.datagnostics.com

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